126 KENNEL SECRETS. 



casion he noted that in all his dogs, some forty in num- 

 ber, there was quite a sudden and great falling off in the 

 appearance of the coat, the skin losing its elasticity and 

 with the hair becoming dry and rough. During the in- 

 vestigations that followed every possible cause was elim- 

 inated except the drinking water, and after the help had 

 been under surveillance for several days this was proved 

 to be at fault. The kennels being at once piped and 

 supplied with running water the inmates were soon back 

 to their old form. 



The moral of all this is, that while cleanliness, groom- 

 ing, etc., will keep in good condition the hair of a sound 

 dog happily situated, except in the presence of good gen- 

 eral health the hair can never be at its best, no matter 

 how cleverly and faithfully it is treated. 



A word as to the so-called hair restorers. Including 

 the domestic with all other agents reputed to have stimu- 

 lant action upon the hair the number would be well-nigh 

 countless, yet as a matter of fact there are but few that 

 have any restorative action whatsoever. Many of them, it 

 is true, have seemed to prove effectual in certain cases, but 

 doubtless in the infinite majority of them the hair would 

 have grown quite as quickly without any application. 



The hair is planted in the skin, but unlike vegetable 

 growths the root is not its actual source and origin. A 

 shrub pulled up by its roots cannot be reproduced on the 

 same spot, and unless it is replanted there that spot will 

 know it no more. Not so with the hair however, which 

 although it has been plucked by the root will yet repro- 

 duce itself, because its true source is not in its bulb or so- 

 called root but in the outer or dermic layer of the follicle 

 containing the root and in a small vascular papilla contin- 

 uous with this layer, known as the matrix. The cells 

 formed by this matrix are always being pushed up into 



